


Interesting Discovery

by OndoriNaramaki



Series: Rise of the TMNT snippets [1]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Leo likes floating around in the pool, Leo refusing to eat, Splinter being a dad, Splinter figuring out why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 09:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13701633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OndoriNaramaki/pseuds/OndoriNaramaki
Summary: When one of his newly acquired sons refuses to eat, Splinter starts to get worried and has to figure out what to do. 2018 verse





	Interesting Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw some promotional artwork for the new TMNT show ("Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles") coming out in like Fall, and found out that the brothers are all different species this time. So I looked up what kind Leonardo was and discovered something that gave me inspiration for a fic! And that's how this story was born. Enjoy!

The first time Splinter ever feeds his sons—just a few hours after he found them—he gathers up all the turtles and gives them lettuce and other fruits and veggies, having remembered hearing that's what turtles liked to eat. They all dig in except for his smallest son, Leonardo, who merely inspects it before wandering off without taking a single bite. 

Splinter tries bringing more variety, in the hopes that Leo is just picky, but the same thing happens each time. After this continues for a few days Splinter starts to get worried. 

The next day, however, has Leo just chilling in the lake—as is his wont—when Splinter sees a sudden movement where his most aquatic son is relaxing and he runs over to inspect what's going on, getting there just in time to see Leo gobble down a small fish that had slipped in through the sewer grate.

With this new information in his arsenal he makes sure to add a couple small fish to the food pile he sets down when dinner time rolls around, but this time Leo ignores the food completely and just goes over to his favorite napping spot by the warm pipes. 

Figuring Leo only likes certain kinds of fish, Splinter spends some time catching as big a variety as he can manage, to make sure he gets the right kind. But while he's preparing his sons' next meal he witnesses something odd. A cockroach crawls into the playpen area where all his sons are playing. He then sees Leonardo notice it and track its movements for a few seconds before picking it up and eating it, then go back to crawling around. 

So it comes as less of a surprise when lunch time rolls around and Leo takes only a single bite of the nearest fish before crawling away.

Splinter decides it's time to experiment, and after several weeks of doing so—all the while compiling all he learns into a notebook—he has figured out that Leo only likes to eat once a day, coming to the conclusion that the red-eared slider just has a metabolism that works differently than his brothers', and while he _will_ eat the occasional bite of certain leafy greens or fruit, he prefers live prey like fish or bugs, his favorite seeming to be sardines and aphids. 

Then one day Splinter finds a perfectly good pizza someone had thrown out and brings it home. After he gets back all his sons crowd around his feet, wondering what the new smell is. He sets the box down and takes a step back so his sons can dig in, and to his surprise Leonardo actually takes and eats a slice—a whole one too!—before crawling away to go float around in the lake. 

It's three days before Leonardo dares to take another bite of food. 

Splinter writes this new information down in his notebook.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! I read that Leo is gonna be a red-eared slider turtle, so I looked that species up and found that they are somewhat picky eaters and a lot of people have trouble getting their young ones to eat, which gave me the idea for this fic. I wonder if it's the first fic for this series.


End file.
